St. Thomas's Anglican Church (Toronto)

The Arts and Crafts building, designed by architect and parishioner Eden Smith (1858–1949), was opened on January 17, 1893.[3] The First World War Memorial Baptistery with Bromsgrove Guild stained-glass windows was completed in 1922.

The aesthetic theorist and poet T. E. Hulme attended St Thomas's while living in Toronto briefly in 1906 after leaving Cambridge University. He is an important figure in Modernist literature, influencing, among others, Ezra Pound and T.S. Eliot.[4] The world-famous English pianist Gerald Moore (1899–1987) grew up and obtained most of his music education in Toronto.[5] In his early life, he was sub-organist at St Thomas's.

The parish's logo was designed by Allan Fleming for its centenary celebrations in 1974.[6]

The church is known for its high standards in music and liturgy, and is nicknamed "Smoky Tom's" for its use of generous quantities of incense. Liturgy at St. Thomas's is more formal and complex than would be encountered in all but a few Anglican churches in Canada and indeed in the rest of North America today.

St. Thomas's draws from the high church tradition within Anglicanism, distinct from the Anglican Papalist movement, which takes its inspiration from contemporary Roman Catholicism. This tradition, as former rector Fr. Roy Hoult explains, sought

to rediscover the forms of dress and general tenor of worship that pertained in England prior to their destruction at the time of the Reformation. St. Thomas's is an example of this second kind of Anglo-Catholicism; its lack of lace and the predominance instead of plain albs and long surplices bear witness to this, as does the traditional Anglican arrangement of the chancel with its choir stalls.[7]

The church has had a long relationship with Trinity College, which hosts a theology department in the Liberal Catholic tradition. More recently, it has mended ties with Wycliffe College, another seminary in the evangelical Anglican tradition, which as recently as the late 1930s banned its students from entering St. Thomas's. Nowadays, however, seminarians from both Trinity and Wycliffe serve regularly during the academic term, involved in the liturgy and many aspects of parish, such as the Friday Food Ministry. Other students of Toronto School of Theology-affiliated institutions are involved in the parish as well.

St. Thomas's is the closest parish church for students of the Toronto School of Theology and of the wider University of Toronto. The church has an active outreach program to university students, and students of the University of Toronto are active in its various guilds and activities, most notably the weekly university-level bible study, as well as being general parishioners.

St. Thomas's has two full-time priests, the Rector and the Associate Priest, who are assisted by honorary associate priests. There is also a Director of Music and Associate Organist.

St. Thomas's is notable for its intricate liturgy. Of interest is its dedicated Acolytes' Guild, and its preservation of complex liturgical roles and minor orders like that of the subdiaconate, which are no longer found in the vast majority of Anglicanism and Western Christianity as a whole, including in Roman Catholicism.

Music is an important part of the liturgy at St. Thomas's and the high calibre of the music program attracts people to St Thomas's. Past Directors of Music include John Tuttle, who served from 1989 to 2016 in the post, along with Matthew Larkin and Matthew Whitfield. The famous English accompanist Gerald Moore, who grew up in Toronto, was briefly an assistant organist at St. Thomas's. Elizabeth Anderson was Interim Organist and Choirmaster from July 2016 until August 2017, and was further appointed Interim Director of Music in September 2022. In March 2023, Anderson became the parish's permanent Director of Music. Manuel Piazza was also appointed Assistant Director of Music in the same month.

There are three choral services each Sunday. The choristers are mainly volunteers, with paid section leads. To date, the choir has toured to the U.K. three times in 2005, 2010, and 2013 to serve as choir-in-residence in cathedrals during the summer.

St. Thomas's celebrates daily Low Mass and Morning & Evening Prayer. The church is open for private prayer daily from early in the morning to late at night, except on Saturdays.

Low Mass is celebrated in the Lady Chapel at 12:15 pm on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, at 5:30 pm on Tuesday and Thursday, and at 10:00 am on Saturday. Morning Prayer is said in the chancel from Monday to Friday at 8:30 am, and on Saturday at 9:30 am. Evening Prayer is said in the chancel as well from Monday to Friday at 5:00 pm.

On Sundays, the services are:

• Mattins, 7:30 a.m. & Low Mass, 8:00 a.m. Uses the 1962 Canadian Book of Common Prayer.

• Sung Mass, 9:30 a.m.: A contemporary-language service (includes choral music) with the priest facing westward, using the 1985 Book of Alternative Services and the Revised Common Lectionary readings.
• High Mass, 11:00 a.m.: A traditional-language eastward-facing service (includes choral music) using a re-ordered version of the 1962 Canadian Book of Common Prayer, and the Revised Common Lectionary readings.
• Evensong & Devotions, 5:00 p.m.: Evensong (using the 1962 BCP) and Devotions (includes choral music).

Sung Mass, High Mass, and Evensong & Devotions are livestreamed. See the parish website.

Major Feast Days are usually observed with one or two Low Masses during the day and a Procession and High Mass at 6:00 pm. Service details, livestream links, and service leaflets are posted on the parish website.

St. Thomas's publishes an e-newsletter from the rector called The Thurible weekly. The parish sponsors a Friday Food Ministry program and has a long tradition of refugee sponsorship. All are supported by volunteers from the parish and the community. It also hosts meetings of the Society of Mary.

Many St. Thomas's parishioners are active as performers, writers, and artists, and the church has participated in events like Nuit Blanche and Doors Open Toronto.

The parish, well-known for its liturgical conservatism, houses a sizable portion of parishioners who embrace a more liberal Anglo-Catholicism, following trends in the Anglican Church of Canada, although theologically traditional elements remain alive and well.[8]

On Sunday mornings, there is a small church school and a nursery school. The church also conducts an adult Christian education program, including programs targeted to young adults, Bible study series during the Lent and Advent seasons, discussion groups, and occasional lectures. From 2006 to 2015, there was also an active St Elmo's Youth Group; some of its members have gone on to serve as choristers and acolytes.

• 
  Northwest view
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  Nave
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  Lady Chapel
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  Sanctuary
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  Baptistery stained glass window, Design Archibald John Davies, Bromsgrove Guild

• List of Anglican churches in Toronto
• Parkdale Deanery

• Kent, David A., ed. (1993). Household of God: a parish history of St. Thomas's Church, Toronto. Toronto: St Thomas's, Huron Street. ISBN 978-0-9697802-0-5.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to St. Thomas's Anglican Church (Toronto).

• St Thomas's Anglican Church, Huron Street
• Parish YouTube channel: Sunday Sung Mass (9:30 am), High Mass (11:00 am), and Evensong and Devotions (3:00 pm) are livestreamed weekly.